Is this a legit Common Law status claim???

[Mess]

Miss.Stepmom, that information is correct for the Federal Government when they are calculating benefits, Child Tax Credit, etc. It is only accurate for that. The Federal Government has no jurisdiction over who is considered married, but oddly they have jursidiction over divorce.

As far as family law claims go, provincial legislation has jurisdiction over who is considered married or in a common law relationship.

In Ontario, you must be living together 3 years, or be living together any amount of time and raising a child together.

[Heart-broken dad]

Why is this even being debated? Of course she can't! She was married to another man, so she could not be common-law with someone else. Thinking that she can get the benefits or insurance of the person she was cheating with is absolutely insane!

If he didn't include her in his will, then she's getting what she deserves.

[littleman]

if one of the parties is still legally married (even legally seperated) there is NO assumption of common law until the final divorce decree is received by the courts......how do I know? My other half is legally seperated from his wife and has been many years and we have been living together for approx 6 years now and still cannot be considered common law (that is straight from a lawyer)......until both parties have a final divorce decree there is no assumption of a different marital status.........she has no claim to anything